When the original transportation services for about 10,000 Queen City Mischief & Magic festival attendees fell through, a solution involving school buses was quickly created.

The Staunton City School Board convened at 7:45 a.m. Friday and approved a memorandum of understanding between the board and the City of Staunton to use school buses as the shuttle service for the festival this weekend.

"They're turning to us to help them out," said Staunton City Schools superintendent, Dr. Garrett Smith, at the meeting Friday morning.

The event organizer, Sarah Lynch, could not be reached about the transportation Friday morning.

Virginia law spells out how these types of agreements work between school boards and governing cities. According to Virginia Code, "each such agreement shall provide for reimbursing the school board in full for the proportionate share of any and all costs."

Brenda Lovekamp, administrative assistant to the superintendent, said the total cost of the transportation solution will be known after the festival.

The free shuttles will run a constant circuit from both the Mischief lot at 216 Frontier Dr. and the Magic lot at 851 Statler Boulevard.

If both shuttle lots are full, another large parking lot at Gypsy Hill Park is available, just past the Thomas Howie Memorial Armory at 5 Deaver Dr.

The shuttles will run to the corner of Market and Beverley streets in downtown Staunton.

The memorandum of understanding states the school board will provide shuttle services from all three lots on: